‘The Gray Man’: Regé-Jean Page Worked With Someone in the CIA to Build His Character
In The Gray Man, Regé-Jean Page plays a ruthless leader of the CIA who is hunting Ryan Gosling’s character after he uncovers damning information. Page is a British actor who has not had much experience as a leader of an American law enforcement agency. Page says he worked with a nameless CIA agent in order to build his character in Netflix’s The Gray Man.
Regé-Jean Page plays an ambitious CIA operative in ‘The Gray Man’
The Gray Man stars Ryan Gosling as Court Gentry, a CIA agent known as sierra six who is recruited by Donald Fitzroy (Billy Bob Thornton). Page plays Denny Carmichael who takes over Fitzroy’s position and wants to get rid of the sierra program. After Court acquires a key piece of intel, Denny contacts the erratic Lloyd Hansen (Chris Evans) to go after Court and get the intel back.
The cast of The Gray Man also includes Ana de Armas, Jessica Henwick, and Alfre Woodard. It is directed by the Russo brothers and is produced through their AGBO production company.
Page worked with a CIA agent to build his character
Page takes on a more villainous role in The Gray Man, but he needed to work on building a character that didn’t seem one note. In an interview with Good Morning America, co-host host Michael Strahan asks Page how he learned to nail his American accent. Page said he worked with a nameless CIA agent to grow his character and that also helped make his accent better.
“It kind of comes the other way around,” Page said. “The character tends to grow the accent. So, it’s all just part of building the character. You think about who is this guy? How did he get here? Why does it make sense for him to be here? With Denny in particular, I thought you know I want something a little blue collar and East coast going on and I want there to be a sense of aspiration because we talked to this guy from the CIA, who shall remain nameless, and like the level of focus you would need to rise to his position as quickly as he has gave me this idea into someone who is so incredibly aspirationally focused. So I was like what can I do with this and the accent tends to grow out of that.”
Page will next be joining a world of fantasy
Page became a star after his role in Netflix’s Bridgerton as Simon Basset. However, he left the series after its first season and is not planning on returning for his third. The Gray Man sees him return to Netflix but as a much less charming and more sinister character.
In 2023, Page is joining a new fantasy world in Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves. Based on the massively popular fantasy board game, the movie also stars Chris Pine, Michelle Rodriguez, Justice Smith, Sophia Lillis, and Hugh Grant. It is expected to hit theaters on March 3, 2023.
The Gray Man is now streaming on Netflix.
